Total telephone subscriber base rises to 100.69 cr

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GizBot Bureau

Written By: GizBot Bureau

Published: Tuesday, September 1, 2015, 16:21 [IST]

The total telephone subscriber base in the country rose marginally to reach 100.69 crore at the end of June, sectoral regulator TRAI said today. The subscriber base stood at 100.20 crore at the end of May, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said.

The wireless base (GSM and CDMA) rose 0.51 per cent to 98.08 crore at the end of June from 97.57 crore in May, while the fixed line base declined to 2.61 crore from 2.62 crore. "As on June 30, 2015, the private access service providers held 91.75 per cent market share of the wireless subscribers whereas BSNL and MTNL, the two PSUs access service providers, held only 8.25 per cent market share," TRAI said.

The wireless tele-density increased to 77.90 per cent from 77.58 at the end of May. Wireless subscription in urban areas increased to 56.29 crore at the end of June from 55.88 crore last month and wireless subscription in rural areas increased from 41.69 crore to 41.78 crore during the same period.

West Bengal service area recorded the highest growth rate in wireless subscribers during the reported period whereas UP (E), J&K and Tamil Nadu (including Chennai) service areas showed decline in subscriber base during the month. In June, a total of 36.8 lakh subscribers submitted their requests for mobile number portability (MNP).

At the end of June, the wireless base of Airtel stood at 23.06 crore, Vodafone at 18.53 crore, Idea at 16.20 crore, Reliance at 10.99 crore, Tata at 6.15 crore, Aircel at 8.30 crore, Uninor at 4.81 crore, Sistema Shyam Teleservices at 86.96 lakh and Videocon at 76.10 lakh.

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The wireless subscriber base of BSNL and MTNL stood at 7.73 crore and 35.47 lakh respectively.TRAI said as per the reports received from the service providers, the number of broadband subscribers increased from 10.49 crore at the end of May to 10.88 crore at the end of June with monthly growth rate of 3.71 per cent.

Top five service providers constituted 83.83 per cent market share of total broadband subscribers at June end. These service providers were Bharti Airtel (2.45 crore), Vodafone (2.20 crore), BSNL (1.82 crore), Idea Cellular (1.66 crore) and Reliance Communications Group (97.4 lakh).